South Korea, China team up to prevent nuclear test

August 26, 2006

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korea and China have agreed to cooperate to prevent a possible nuclear test by North Korea amid increasing reports citing suspicious activity in the communist nation, Seoul's presidential security adviser said Friday. A nuclear test by the communist North would be "a grave situation of a different level from missile launches," Song Min-soon said after returning from a two-day trip to China, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported. "South Korea and China have agreed to continue cooperation not to let that situation occur," Song was quoted as saying. He did not elaborate on how the two countries would cooperate. South Korea and China, along with Japan, Russia and the United States, have tried to convince the North to abandon its nuclear program at six-party negotiations that have been on hold since November. The North stoked regional tensions on July 5 by test-firing seven missiles, drawing U.N. Security Council sanctions, and concerns are growing that it could be preparing for a nuclear test. Japan's Kyodo News agency reported late Thursday that vehicles were seen in recent days at what is thought to be a nuclear testing site in northeastern North Korea. Kyodo quoted an unidentified government official as saying it was unclear whether any nuclear tests by the North were imminent, but that Japan was closely monitoring the situation. The Japanese government's top spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, declined Friday to confirm the report, saying he could not comment on what Japan knows because of intelligence reasons, but urged North Korea to return to stalled six-nation talks on its nuclear disarmament. "If North Korea does carry out its nuclear experiment, it will pose a grave threat to the peace and security of Japan, Northeast Asia, and the international community," Abe said in Tokyo. "It will be absolutely unacceptable."